with Carl Colpaert and Lee Caplin
7:15 pm, Regal 3
Director: Carl Colpaert
Writer: Carl Colpaert, Deborah Setele
Cinematographer: Fred Goodich
Cast: Joe Arquette, Patricia Mota, Telana Lynum, Maurizio Farhad, Mark Cameron Wystrach
Running Time: 100 min

An “ambitious, topical satire”Â? (Variety), G.I. Jesus targets the exploitation of immigrant soldiers and the psychological costs of the Iraq war, among other social issues. Jesus Feliciano (Joe Arquette) is a Mexican immigrant who joins the U.S. military to become a legal citizen of the United States (an actual Bush administration recruitment policy). After returning from a tour of combat in Iraq, Jesus is shocked to find how much his Mexican wife and daughter have changed in his absence. He watches his American dream turn into a nightmare as he struggles to hold his family together in a country obsessed with materialism and conspicuous consumption.

Racked by flashbacks and visions, Jesus is haunted by an Iraqi soldier named Mohammed (naturally) that only he can see. “I killed a lot of people just to be legal”, laments Jesus, as he learns that the true cost of the war is to his own psyche.

Filmmaker Carl Colpaert chronicles an ethereal journey of one man’s struggle to let go of the pain and agony suffered during war in order to return to his promised life, while examining broader political issues of wartime propoganda, our twisted attitude toward immigration (you can’t become a citizen of this country unless you go kill people in another country), and the profound effects of war on our nation and the world.

Shot on High-Definition video, with actual Iraq battle footage cut in, the film offers a probing examination of soldiers trying to better themselves and their families, but shameful of what they’ve seen, done and have become in the process. Provocative, intelligent, and funny, G.I. Jesus makes a strong case for crossing the border in the opposite direction.